


Close Your Eyes

by lunarlychallenged



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 06:31:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15333897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarlychallenged/pseuds/lunarlychallenged
Summary: You would trust Jack with your life, but it's a little iffier when he tells you to close your eyes.





	Close Your Eyes

“Close your eyes and open your mouth,” Jack said with a grin.

You snorted. “What are we, eight?”

“What are you, a chicken?”

You paused. “I mean, yeah. I don’t trust you with my mouth.”

Race, who sat on the school lawn a few feet away, snorted. “That’s not what you said last night.”

“I guess we really are eight,” you said dryly.

Jack was sitting crosslegged across from you. “I can’t believe this. After being friends for all this time, you don’t trust me?”

“With my life, yes. With my tastebuds, no. You probably have a handful of dirt or something.”

He put a wounded hand over his heart. “Rude.”

“It’s still true,” you said with a shrug.

He wheedled for you to give in, and it took all of your strength not to. It was difficult; instinctually you wanted to do whatever Jack asked of you. If Jack told you to jump off a cliff, it’s possible that you would do it before thinking it through.

Even so, though you wanted to open up just so he would smile at you, you refused. More likely than not, he had something gross. 

When the lunch bell rang, the lot of you got up to go back to class. Most of your friend group took Senior English together, but Jack was in AP Art. When you reached the stretch of hallway where you and Jack would split up, you grabbed his arm. He looked at your hand, perplexed, but didn’t pull away.

“What were you going to give me?” The curiosity would kill you if he didn’t say.

He pulled a bag of Skittles out of his pocket.

“Oh,” you said. Those were totally harmless. You held out a hand. “Can I have some? If you didn’t do anything to them, that is.”

“Of course not,” he said smugly. “You didn’t trust me before. Why would I reward you now?”

“Because you love me?” You smiled sweetly.

“Not that much,” he said with the same sickly sweet tone. “Don’t expect the worst of me, Y/N. You’re the only person who might get the best.”

He walked away, leaving you confused and strangely happy. 

 

 

It was too cold to go on a walk, but you and Jack would only be home for Christmas break for a few more days. You had to make the most of your time together before shipping off to your respective colleges. 

“Why don’t we visit each other?” You only turned your head a little; just enough to peek at his face. The small movement let the winter wind sneak through a new gap in your hood and scarf. “You’re only an hour away from me.”

Jack’s breath created a cloud of steam when he sighed. “I dunno. It’s easier to not do something than it is to do it, I guess.”

“We were so close in high school,” you said wistfully. “I was so sure that we were going to keep everything going.”

“We text all the time.”

“It’s not the same, and you know it.” When he dipped his head in acknowledgment, you brightened. “We always could, you know. It’s almost the new year, and I haven’t chosen a resolution yet.”

“That would be your resolution? Spend more time with Jack Kelly?” His grin was teasing, but it softened when you nodded. “Y/N, that isn’t necessary. We can just agree to try harder.”

“No way,” you snorted. “It’s a promise. I’ll swear it. You’re stuck with me, in person this time around.”

“Why?”

You looked at him fully this time, wincing when the cold brushed your face. “What do you mean, why? Because I miss you.”

“Are you going to promise the same things for the others? Some of them are closer,” he pointed out. 

“It’s different with you,” you finally said. Because you had liked him in high school. Because nothing had changed since then. Because after all this time, you thought that maybe things could really happen between the two of you.

“How is it different?”

“I think you and I could make it work,” you said, irritated. Why was he fighting so hard? If he didn’t want to see you, he should come out and say it. “I think that we care about each other, so I think we could keep any promise we make.”

“‘We?’”

“Sure,” you said. “You wouldn’t talk to me so much if you didn’t care at all.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said. His eyes were fixed on your face, his smile fading away. “Close your eyes, Y/N.”

Your brow furrowed. “Why?”

“For God’s sake,” he huffed. “Will you just shut your eyes?”

You did, raising your brows sarcastically. “Happy now?”

“Very.” As soon as the word faded from your ears, something warm was pressing against your lips. Your eyes shot open, revealing Jack’s face against yours. His eyes were closed, and he brought his gloved hands to hold onto your forearms.

He exhaled through his nose, and another burst of steam shot right into your eyes. You gave a snort of laughter, and Jack pulled away.

His cheeks were pink, but you couldn’t tell if it was embarrassment or cold at the root of it. “Sorry, I misunderstood. When you said that you cared, I thought -”

You reached out to grab hold of him, to keep him from retreating too far. “No, I’m sorry. I was surprised. You understood perfectly. I want to see you more, and I want you to kiss me every time.”

“You’re asking for a lot,” he said with a crooked smile.

“You seem willing to give it,” you retorted.

“You aren’t wrong,” he said. He wrapped an arm around your waist when he started walking again, tugging you along. The arm made you feel warm from head to toe, though your coat was thick enough to keep you from really feeling the weight of him. “Fine - my New Year's Resolution is to see you more. We can work out the rest later.”

You grinned, leaning into his side. It made walking kind of awkward, but you didn’t care. “Awesome. You know that you’re stuck with me now, for at least a year.”

“Ugh. I take it back.”

“Not allowed,” you said gleefully. “It’s a one year contract. You have to deal with me for a year.”

“Alright,” he sighed. He smiled and pressed a kiss into your hat. “If I have to.”

 

 

“Alright, Y/N, close your eyes.”

You did as Jack instructed, holding out your hand so he could lead you into his apartment. He had signed the lease in August, so you had a place to stay when you came to visit him for the weekend. It was your one year anniversary, so he wanted to do something special. In the words of Race, the two of you were hella broke, so you knew that Jack had been improvising.

“Here’s what I want you to picture,” he said. “There’s a picnic setup, with the checkered blanket and fancy basket and all that jazz. Quality booze, food that’s way too expensive to put in a basket, and candles on tacky candlesticks that don’t belong outside.”

“Classy,” you said with a smile.

“The lights are dim. There are roses all over. I mean all over, Y/N. The ground, the furniture, in a vase on the table. Probably in the toilet. Everywhere.”

“Big spender.”

“That’s kinda the problem,” he said. You heard him open the door, and he tugged gently on your hand to bring you inside. “Open up.”

You opened your eyes, and your grin broadened. His bed comforter was spread across the living room floor. A cardboard box sat on the edge of the blanket, holding a box of pizza inside. A bottle of cheap wine from Walmart sat in a bowl of ice, ready to fill up Jack’s Star Wars mugs. A few daisies were scattered on the floor, the rest in a vase on the table. Scented candles were resting on various, non-hazardous surfaces.

“I really tried,” he said.

“It’s perfect,” you said. “The epitome of romance.”

He sat on the blanket, patting the side of it as though you wouldn’t know where to sit. “Not gonna lie, I thought I would be able to afford to be a big spender by now.”

“Not gonna lie,” you echoed, “I thought we agreed to save money for the important things.”

“I could only afford a pizza.”

“And now we get to eat pizza,” you said reverently. You reached over and squeezed his hand. “Seriously, Jack, this is great. Anniversaries don’t have to be a big deal.”

“They should be.”

“There are candles. That’s pretty big,” you pointed out.

“I got stuff to make smores,” he admitted. “I thought we could roast marshmallows on toothpicks.”

You laughed. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said. He poured wine into the cups, raising his into a toast. “To the end of our year long contract. I’m free, at last.”

You clinked yours against his. “Believe me, I’m as relieved as you are. What’ll you do with the freedom?” 

He put pizza on the plates, eyes twinkling. “Hang out with you all weekend. We’ll definitely make out.”

“Nice,” you said with an approving nod. “So, we’ll do the same stuff as always?”

“Sounds good to me.”

You clinked your glass against his again. “Great. Let’s eat.”


End file.
